Jeremiah carhart



J. CARHART. MBLODEON, &c.

N0.12,713. Patented Apr. 17, 1855.

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UNITED STATES PATENT o FIcE.

JEREMIAH CARHART, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MELODEON.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 12,713, dated April 17, 1855.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JEREMIAH GARHART, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Melodeons and other Reed Musical Instruments; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, representing a transverse section of a melodeon having my improvements applied.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, is a fixed board supposed to extend the whole or nearly the whole length of the instrument, forming the top of the air receiving chamber of the bellows.

B, is an air passage extending the whole or nearly the whole length of the instrument, and communicating with the air receiving chamber through apertures, E, of which the number may correspond with the number of reeds, or their size and number must be such as to allow a proper volume of air, to be at all times drawn into the air receiving chamber.

F, is the reed board placed in front. of the upper part of the passage, B.

1', is one of the reeds, C, the reed plate to which it is attached, and D, the corresponding valve. The reed plate is received in a groove in the lower part of the reed board, and may be removed from the instrument for repair, or adjustment, by simply drawing it forward from the groove. The reed, and reed plate are inverted from the position they usually occupy in instru ments with exhausting bellows, in order that the reed may be acted upon by an upward movement of the hammer, I, and the air passes upward through it, instead of clownward, as is usually the case. The valve fits to an oblique seat formed at the back of the chamber, G, which is made in the reed board above the valve, and is situated just at the top of the air passage, B. It is attached to the rear arm of a lever, H, of the first order, and opens upward by the downward pressure of the key, N, acting through a small rod, a, upon the front arm of the said lever. It is closed by a spring, 6. The air in passing through the reed to the air receiving chamber of the bellows, takes the course indicated by arrows in the drawing,

passing upward through the reed and valve, and then descending the passage, B, to the air receiving chamber.

WVith an exhausting bellows and reeds ar ranged in the usual way, the application of hammers to the reeds, would be attended with great difficulty, as the hammer must strike downward and be raised by springs. With a forcing bellows, the hammers and striking action are either arranged in the bellows, or in air chambers between the reed and bellows, and it is only with difficulty that the hammer or action can be reached in order to be removed, repaired, or adjusted, when necessary.

The above described arrangement of reeds and valves, enables the hammer to strike upward, and enables the whole of the striking action, with the exception of the hammer rail, J, and hammers, to be removed at once through the front of the case, all except those parts being attached to a stout rail, K, which has a dovetail piece,cZ, attached to each end, to fit a corresponding horizontal dovetail groove in the end, L, of the case. Each dovetail piece has a lug, 6, attached, to enable the rail to be drawn forward by hand, when the front of the case is open. The rail, K, and all the parts of the striking action, except the hammer, stand in the space in front of the reed board, where there is ample room for them, without requiring any of the other parts of the instrument to be inconveniently arranged, or the case to be any larger, than is necessary to contain all the part-s. mers can be adjusted, or be easily removed, when the front of the case is open, by unscrewing their blocks, f, from the rail, J. When the striking action is removed, the reed plates, C, can easily be drawn forward from their grooves in the reed board for repair or adjustment. The striking action which I employ in connection with my improved arrangement of reeds and valves, is of a peculiar character, but as that forms a distinct invention, it need not be here described.

In order that the tone of the reeds may not be aifected by the percussion of the hammers, I apply a butt, or strip of soft leather, or other material, between each reed and its respective hammer, by securing the said strip at one end, and leaving the other end free. In this way it always hangs loosely between the reed and hammer, except at the The ham time of percussion, when it is struck upward.

by the hammer, and interposes itself between the hammer and reed. This buff is like that applied in pianofortes, in which it is only brought occasionally into operation, but I propose that in the reed instrument it shall be always in operation, as I consider it necessary at all times to prevent the otherwise unpleasant effect of the percussion of the hammers upon the reeds; and I consider my application of it to be for a totally different purpose; for in piano-fortes it is brought into operation in playing such parts of music as are to be played softly, and not to prevent the unpleasant effects of percussic-n, as no such prevention is necessary.

I am aware that a similar arrangement of the reed has before been adopted and the air forced upward through it to produce the tone by the bellow from below and the hammer caused to strike the reed from beneath, but this has only been done in instruments employing a forced current of air produced by the blowing action of the bellows and the hammer has necessarily been arranged with in the wind chest or between the windv chest and reed and intermediate of the current passing from the bellows to the reed whereby much inconvenience arises in the removal of the hammer and adjustment of the reed and to remove the hammer destroys or stops the operation of the reed for tuning or playing: this I do not claimbut What I do claim as new and useful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The arrangement herein shown and described in instruments operated by eXhaus tion of the air of the reeds valves and hammers in relation to the exhausting bellows or passages so that the hammer is caused to operate outside of the influence of the bellows and not between the bellows and the reed and whereby the hammer may be readily detached and taken out of the in strument for repair, tuning or adjustment of the reed without destroying the capability of the reed to speak or play.

2. WVithout claiming the application of buffs, consisting of strips of leather, to musical instrument-s generally, or for any other purpose than that which I have specified, I claim their application to reed instruments, in connection with hammers, substantially as, and for the purposes herein fully set forth.

JEREMIAH CARHART.

WVitnesses O. D. MUNN, S. H. WALES. 

